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Nas - Illmatic (1994)

"Short and sweet. Every track on that album could be a single."

GZA - Liquid Swords (1995)

"The first wave of Wu records was out of control."

The Roots - Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995)

"That's definitely a huge influence for me, taking that kinda jazzy feel and making it relative to hip-hop."

The Roots - Illadelph Halflife (1996)

"I think that was a step towards making a more produced album, where it wasn't so much live instrumentation, but still keeping that jazzy feel, soulful feel...As with Illmatic, there's just singles all over that"

OutKast - ATLiens (1996)

"The chemistry between Big Boi and Andre...Southernplayalistic was really dope and everything, but with ATLiens is when I really feel like they kind of fused into one entity. And with the beats and everything, it just turned out to be a timeless classic."

The B.U.M.S - Lyfe 'N' Tyme (1995)

"The lyrics were street, but they weren't overly street...and the production...the drums are just impeccable...and at the same time, a lot of the melodic samples are super jazzy. It's a danceable record too, and it's the Bay man."